Broken Bridge
by Amanda Yates
Summary: After being in a civil partnership with Merlin for two years Arthur decides to get a divorce as he believes he's in a failed relationship and has fallen out of love with Merlin, it's a long bumpy road ahead when he realizes he never got over Merlin and has to right the wrongs he'd done.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello readers, so this is a new installment and I hope you guys will enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: All Merlin characters are owned by Shine and BBC**

**Warnings: Angst, jealousy, divorce, implied Mpreg.**

**Summary: After being in a civil partnership with Merlin for two years Arthur decides to get a divorce as he believes he's in a failed relationship and has fallen out of love with Merlin, it's a long bumpy road ahead when he realizes he never got over Merlin and has to right the wrongs he'd done.**

**Broken Bridge**

**Chapter - 1**

Merlin didn't say anything for a while as he sat on the plush sofa of their living room, he couldn't meet Arthur's eyes and couldn't decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand it meant Arthur couldn't see how this was tearing him apart but on the other it implied that he was a coward. Merlin honestly didn't think he'd never expected this coming but it still stunned him that Arthur would throw away their life together so easily. Idly he thought it was ironic that he was staring at a framed picture of them both kissing with the background of the London tower when they were at the culmination of their relationship. When they had entered their civil partnership Merlin had been over the moon with joy and they had been so happy to be able to love each other openly after years of hiding their relationship and then Alexis was born and Arthur began pulling away.

Merlin cleared his throat awkwardly and then looked at Arthur for the first time since Arthur had announced that he was filing for the dissolution of their partnership and though he didn't want to admit it the stoic almost indifferent look Arthur gave him hurt him more than any of the angry words Arthur had hurled at him in the last year ever did. Seeing this made Merlin gain strength though and if Arthur felt nothing for him anymore and wanted their failed relationship to end then Merlin would handle this gracefully whether or not it was killing him inside. He schooled his expressions and said "Have you decided on a lawyer?"

"Yes, Gwaine Dubois, now if you could sign these we could get on with it right away."

Gwaine, Merlin wasn't surprised at Arthur's choice for a lawyer and Gwaine was one of the best in town and a privileged arsehole just like Arthur and they had been mates right from uni.

"Shouldn't we be discussing custodial rights for Alexis?" asked Merlin and saw Arthur's expression change for just a second before the mask was on again and Merlin was too heartsick to have noted the change properly.

"It's outlined in the papers if you want to read them but she can live with you."

Now Merlin was angry, he could never understand why Arthur chose to distance himself from their child Alexis and as she grew up Merlin had to take care of everything from feeding to changing her while Arthur continuously made excuses to be out of their house or work late hours when Merlin knew he didn't have to.

Merlin tried to keep the anger in check but his voice rose an octave as he said "You don't even want to take responsibility for your child? Your own blood and flesh? What has she ever done to you for you to alienate her like this?"

Arthur looked startled at his outburst as if he expected absolute compliance before he said "I'll still have visitation rights and you're the one who is good at taking care of her, after all you are the one who wanted a child!"

Merlin reeled back like he had been slapped, he knew the pregnancy was unexpected and that they didn't plan to have a child but he'd never thought Arthur truly didn't want children, he'd expected it to be some of the daddy issues Arthur had that was messing with his mind and keeping him from being attached to Alexis but he'd never considered that maybe Arthur never even wanted her in the first place, the god's knew he had tried talking to Arthur, but every time they ended up in a screaming match with Merlin in tears and Arthur slamming the door shut and leaving the house.

Merlin stood up and blew out a breath as he said "I'll have to read them before I sign any of this and decide on a lawyer, I'll give these' he picked up the papers from the coffee table, 'back when I'm done reading them."

Arthur stood up, graceful as always in his immaculately pressed Armani suit making him look the part of the cold aristocrat that Merlin knew him to be when he'd met him and said "Be fast about it, we'll discuss financial settlements when I'm home tonight."

"No can do, I have plans for tonight" said Merlin before he walked away not giving Arthur a backward glance never noticing the frown marring Arthur's features as he wiped away tears and went to call Gwen.

The café was well crowded and Merlin finally spotted Gwen and Lance after he looked about the place like an idiot for awhile, absently he wondered how Arthur managed to find the people he was looking for in a crowded room so easily and then thought it must be because he got to spend so much time at business meetings and fundraisers.

He went to the private booth they had occupied before he sighed and Gwen immediately asked "Merlin, what's wrong?"

Merlin looked up at them and tried to smile but it came out more as a grimace before he said "Arthur's filing for divorce."

"WHAT?" asked Gwen and Lance in shock and Merlin turned away from them to look at nothing on the other side of the café when he felt Gwen's hand squeeze his and looked back up at them.

"I shouldn't be surprised right? I knew this was coming…for a long time, Arthur doesn't love me anymore."

Merlin felt the tears building up and before he knew it one traitorous tear slid down his cheek and then they kept coming and Merlin put his head in his hands and groaned, he didn't want to feel so wounded and he wished he could be like Arthur was in regards to their separation, cold and informal as if were Merlin were some disease he wished to be rid off as soon as possible.

"That's not true Merlin! Arthur's never been as crazy about anyone as he is for you! I don't know why he's doing this but he'll come to his senses otherwise we'll talk it into him" said Gwen and Lance nodded while he smiled sadly at them both.

"It's over Gwen, it's about time I stopped taking his shit and this is as good a time as any to end it all and find myself a new life, a chance to be happy."

Now Gwen and Lance shared a dismayed look, it seemed Merlin too was stubborn to see this through and they all knew that Merlin was harder than Arthur to crack at times and Gwen didn't believe for a second that Arthur had stopped loving Merlin and he just needed a reminder of how much he loved Merlin and how stupid he was being by drawing up divorce papers. She had to call Morgana and ask her to give Arthur a well deserved tongue lashing for hurting Merlin, in fact she decided she had to be there for the ritual too and with that in mind she gave Merlin and sad smile and said "We'll be here for you no matter what"

Merlin nodded giving her and Lance a grateful look, "I know"

Morgana was suffice to say not pleased to be roused from her afternoon nap as she had been working non-stop to secure a deal for the Pendragon Corps with key companies all around the world, she was the head of the PR department while Arthur was the Managing Director and let it be said that Uther Pendragon was a hard man to please, and it was even worse for his children.

"Yes, this is Morgana Pendragon and whoever this is you better have a good reason for calling me now!" Morgana barked into the phone while burying her head further down in the pillows.

"Morgana, this is Gwen, did Arthur tell you he filed for divorce?"

This got Morgana to scrunch her face up in confusion for a second before she sat up fully awake and alert now, "HE DID WHAT?"

Morgana was stunned, shocked and she couldn't comprehend how Arthur would file for divorce with Merlin, they were meant to be together, Arthur was crazy about Merlin and had spent months chasing Merlin before Merlin finally caved and agreed to go on a date. Granted things weren't going so well now and Arthur had been working longer than usual but Morgana didn't think it was that bad, and what were they going to do about Alexis?

"Yes, he filed for divorce but I don't think he's in his right mind, we have to talk to him, now before this completely breaks them apart."

"Yes, yes, I still can't believe Arthur went and filed for divorce of all things! I'll be ready in about an hour, meet you at the lobby?"

"Yeah, I'll be there."

Arthur looked up from the stack of papers he was reviewing when he heard his door bang loudly open admitting his least favorite person in the world, his evil sister Morgana and her best friend Guinevere, his ex-girlfriend and he knew what this was about before they'd even gotten started and he was well and truly prepared for it.

"What were you thinking Arthur? Filing for divorce? Are you mad?" asked Morgana as she glared at him daring him to face her wrath.

"I am in perfectly good mental health, thankyou Morgana and seeing as things between Merlin and me are a personal matter I don't see why you feel the need to butt in."

"Oh God damn you and your silly stoicism, don't think I'm going to let you off the hook that easily, why did you file for divorce?"

Arthur sighed and rubbed his hand across his temples and met Morgana's and Gwen's glare and realized he'd rather get this over with now instead of later, "Why do any couple divorce? Things aren't working out anymore and I don't feel the need to have this farce of a relationship when we can barely be civil to each other!"

Morgana was going to go into one of her screeching tirades and both Arthur and Gwen could see it so Gwen stepped forward and said "So you're having problems, who doesn't? You should try to work it out instead of just breaking it off like he doesn't mean anything to you!"

Morgana was pacing to control her temper and then she asked "And what about your little girl? Do you really want to put her through that?"

"I've given Merlin full custodial rights and we'll set up a trust fund for her when we're done with the divorce proceedings."

Morgana slammed the table hard with her fists before she said "You're refusing to take responsibility for your daughter? What you think just because Merlin carried her it means you don't have to do anything? You think you can just throw your money at her and she'll be satisfied with not having another parent?"

Arthur gritted his teeth and his voice rose to meet Morgana's as he said "I'm not abandoning her, Merlin is good at taking care of her than I am, and he's the one who has more time to be looking after squalling babies!"

"You mean you wouldn't know the first thing about taking care of her because you've never even tried, heaven forbid Arthur Pendragon being menial enough to take care of his own daughter!"

Arthur just pointed a finger at her and said "You're acting up over nothing Morgana! I am divorcing Merlin because what we're having now is a failed relationship neither of us wants to be in, and I gave parental responsibility to Merlin because he's the one equipped for taking care of Alexis."

"Neither of you want to be in this relationship eh? So did you ask Merlin's opinion before filing for divorce?" asked Gwen a tad sarcastically as she was feeling no affection whatsoever for Arthur now.

Arthur flailed for a moment before he said "No but he wasn't exactly complaining when I informed him."

Gwen sighed and recognized this for a lost cause if Arthur couldn't even see how much he'd hurt Merlin with this brash action and said "Maybe you're right, Merlin doesn't deserve to be unhappy and if you can't make him happy then he deserves to find someone else who will."

Gwen then said "I'm done talking here, but Arthur you love Merlin' and when Arthur opened his mouth to protest that he most certainly did not Gwen raised her hand willing him to back down and Arthur did though he had no idea why, Gwen always intimidated him more than Morgana ever could 'you may think you don't but Merlin is not the sort of person whom you can love and then forget and when you realize that you're going to have to realize it's on you, this relationship failing is on you because you pulled away, you filed for the divorce and you pushed him away and you've as good as lost him forever."

Gwen then left the office leaving Arthur and Morgana in stunned silence as Arthur collected his thoughts and sighed trying and failing not to be disturbed about Gwen's parting words.

Morgana sat down as well and asked softly "Are you really going to do this?"

Arthur took note of her mood and said "Yes Morgana, we can't go on like this."

Morgana just looked up and snorted cynically, "I guess I should have seen this coming but I really thought he was it for you, you know. You were never that serious about anyone else and for a time it was so amusing to see you all pathetic and moping when he wouldn't go out on a date with you because you were a prat to him."

Arthur smiled thinking of those times when he'd think of any excuse to get out of his office and go to that restaurant Merlin worked part time at before he became a world renowned writer, his father was so displeased with him for shirking his duties and he'd been called on multiple occasions to his office for him to be yelled at by Uther nothing of which seemed to have an effect on him whatsoever. "Uther was so furious with me for being a what he called "irresponsible lad chasing after some boy like a lovesick fool instead of doing my duty to the company."

"Uther would be furious about this too you know, especially if he doesn't get to meet his darling grand- daughter any time he wished to see her."

Arthur would forever be shocked by how much affection Uther showered Alexis with whenever he visited her which was often. Uther adored Alexis and spoiled her rotten when he took her to his mandatory weekly dinners at Les Deux Salons or any other restaurant in London. Secretly Arthur had to admit he was a bit jealous because he never had that kind of attention from his father while he was growing up and Alexis had managed to capture so much of the stoic man's attention in just eight months time.

Morgana was saying something but Arthur was distracted as she snapped her fingers in front of his face, "Uther would insist on you taking custodial rights, you know that right? He thinks Merlin is too middle class to rear any heirs of the Pendragons."

"It's none of Uther's business; I'll make sure he won't interfere."

"You do know I still think you're being idiotic and running away from your problems instead of facing up to it, right?"

"I always knew you had high opinions of me Morgana" quipped Arthur refusing to be fazed by the decision he'd made.

Morgana snorted before she said "I know atleast one person who'd be happy to know you're breaking up with Merlin."

"Hmmm" Arthur hummed disinterestedly as he read through the papers on his desk again.

"Mordred of course, he's been seething ever since you stole Merlin from him or that's what he claims anyway."

Arthur looked up from his paperwork and chewed on his lower lip before saying "If that was your subtle tactic to check if I would be jealous I have to say you're conniving skills are dropping lower on the scale and Merlin would never want to consider that creepy obsessive lunatic for a friend let alone a boyfriend."

Morgana shrugged "And yet Merlin still dated Mordred before."

Arthur smirked wryly, "I know what you're doing Morgana, you're testing the waters, seeing if I still care, well I don't."

"So you say, but if I believed you I wouldn't be your evil sister raised from hell to torment you."

"I don't care if you don't believe me' said Arthur stretching with his hands folded behind his head in the uncomfortable office chair, 'it still doesn't change the fact that Merlin and I are getting divorced."

Morgana in an uncharacteristic display of affection came over to the other side where Arthur was sitting and took his shoulders in a firm grip, she then looked into his eyes and said "Arthur, I know you can be an arrogant prat at times but don't rush something like this, your brash attitude might just make you loose the most important people in your life."

Arthur swallowed before he turned away and Morgana gave up on him and walked out of the office leaving Arthur to contemplate in silence.

**Reviews make me happy folks, so review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello readers, so this is a new installment and I hope you guys will enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: All Merlin characters are owned by Shine and BBC**

**Warnings: Angst, jealousy, divorce, implied Mpreg. lactation though not kinky but I've put a warning if it grosses you out and marked the paragraph with dotted lines so you can avoid it.  
**

**Summary: After being in a civil partnership with Merlin for two years Arthur decides to get a divorce as he believes he's in a failed relationship and has fallen out of love with Merlin, it's a long bumpy road ahead when he realizes he never got over Merlin and has to right the wrongs he'd done.**

Chapter - 2

Arthur sat in the bar stool already nursing his first pint when Gwaine came in and found him slapping Arthur on the back and saying "Hey mate, long time no see!"

Arthur turned around and met Gwaine's blinding smile and smirked as he said "And whose fault is that?"

Gwaine conceded and his smile didn't drop as he said "I'm a party boy and a divorce lawyer, most of the times I'm beat or drunk off my arse."

"Same old Gwaine, drunkard and troublemaker!" hedged Arthur playfully and Gwaine threw his head back and laughed.

"Hey, you love me anyway and you're one to talk, looks like you've been driving yourself over the till with work."

Gwaine took a seat in the bar stool next to Arthur ordering a beer, Arthur sighed and said "Yeah, you know how Uther is, and this new deal we're wanting to get done requires more work."

"Hmm' mused Gwaine silently and then put his hand over Arthur's shoulders as he asked 'so how's married life treating you these days? Do you still get as much as you got when the kid wasn't there?"

Arthur rolled his eyes and then turned away for awhile, he'd wanted to slowly ease into the matter but as usual Gwaine had disrupted his plans and Gwaine sensing the mood frowned while he downed his drink and asked "So, I take it it's not going well and that's why you've called me."

Arthur turned back and looked at Gwaine with surprise clear in his eyes when Gwaine just shrugged and said "I am a drunkard and a divorce lawyer mate, people call me when they want to get absolutely smashed after a break up or because they want to break up."

"And it doesn't bother you at all?" asked Arthur, "helping to break up families?"

Gwaine threw Arthur a shrewd look before saying "It's my job Arthur and sometimes being away from each other is good for everyone involved, anyway what happened between you and your writer boy?"

"He's not my writer boy, he's a comic artist and writer! And we just drifted apart but I don't see how it's your business!"

"Comic eh? Anything I might have heard of? And mate if you want me to be your divorce lawyer then I have to know the details, grounds for divorce and all that!"

"I've drawn up the papers with my family lawyer, you can take a look at them later."

"Alright, are you sure you want to go through with this?" asked Gwaine gulping down his beer as he spoke.

"Do you ask all your clients that question?" asked Arthur incredulously.

Gwaine tilted his head and conceded "Fair point!"

"So what comic does he write?"

"Riley Hunt? Dark Legions Series? Ring a bell?"

Gwaine spit his beer out and sputtered for a second while Arthur looked on in confusion "You mean he's Emerson Cloud the author of Dark Legions? God, that series is awesome!"

Arthur smiled despite himself and said "Yeah, I've been told!"

Gwaine wasn't over his excitement though as he said "You have to let me meet him, wait his name is not really cloud is it?"

"No, that's his alias and you can meet him if you come to one of Morgana's party's. I'm not sure he'd like you though, what with you being my divorce lawyer and all that."

Gwaine frowned for a minute before he said "Maybe I have to reconsider being your lawyer then!"

"Oi, you are my mate you know!"

"I was jesting, so let me see these papers this weekend."

"Yeah, I'll have them brought to you at your office."

Gwaine got up to leave and before he went on his away he said "And Arthur, make sure you really want this."

Arthur glared but Gwaine just gave him a serious look before he darted out of the pub and Arthur was left alone and he decided to go home and face the music.

* * *

When Arthur opened the door to their house all the lights were off and he checked the time in his mobile to find it was 1:00 am and then he quietly closed the door and dragged himself up the stairs into the bedroom where he found an empty bed where Merlin used to be until yesterday and he leaned his head back against the door and closed his eyes, his head pounding because of the alcohol and the ungodly work hours he put in these days and decided he was too tired to contemplate this now and pulled of his shoes before throwing himself face first on the bed, not bothering with changing.

He woke up in the morning with a pounding headache and went into his bathroom to shower and downed two aspirin before he felt human again and lied down on the bed for a while longer because blessedly it was Sunday and that meant he didn't have to work, well not too much anyway but on the other hand it meant he had to talk to Merlin and he wasn't ready to face him yet and decided to sleep in.

When he did wake up again he checked the time to be 9 am and got out of bed as his stomach growled in want of food and slowly opened the door to his room and smelled bacon and peered down to see Merlin and Alexis in the kitchen, Alexis in her high chair and Merlin sitting on a stool trying to feed Alexis some cereal and failing miserably. Alexis kept turning her head this way or that, her blond tatch of hair shining in the sunlight that filtered in through the window and Arthur saw Merlin putting the bowl down and holding his chin in his hand.

"You know I know my cooking skills are not up to par with whichever posh place your grandpa decides to take you but don't you dare make a habit of this, you need to eat normal baby food once in a while too because well, you are a baby!"

Merlin lectured as if Alexis could understand anything and when Alexis turned her head away to examine something on the wall Merlin sighed and said "Fine fine, I'll make you you're strawberry milkshake you stubborn thing! You must have inherited that from the prat!"

Arthur smiled despite himself and he begged to differ as if his daughter was stubborn it meant she definitely inherited that trait from Merlin. Merlin took the bowl of cereal away and placed in the counter top while he prepared the milk shake fetching out the ice cream and the milk and putting them in a mixer as Arthur made his way down and said "Morning Merlin!"

Merlin turned from where he was and said "Hey" in a voice with a mix of surprise and weariness and Arthur decided to make some coffee as Alexis started to babble something nonsensical in the background.

Just when Arthur finished preparing his coffee and sat down, Merlin was done with the milk shake and he filled it up in a glass cup and put a straw in it and brought it over to Alexis who started to make loud excited noises which made Arthur look up and he saw her extending her chubby small hands towards the cup reaching for it and clenching and unclenching her little fists and Merlin brought it close to her but not enough for her to grab before he said "I will let you have that if you have the cereal first!"

Merlin put the milk shake on the counter where Alexis looked at it forlornly before he brought the cereal in front of Alexis again who started to cry first in small whimpers and then loud and earnest and Arthur wasn't sure whether to shut his ears as his head was killing him or whether to shove Merlin out of the way and give her the damn milk shake so she'd he can have some peace and quiet and he restrained himself because he knew Merlin was going to cave any moment and give her what she wanted anyway because he was pathetic like that but what surprised him was that Merlin held his stand and shoved the spoon into her mouth gently with the cereal in it and Alexis looked at him in wide eyed betrayal and the next minute Merlin's face which was close to Alexis' mouth was spattered with cereal and baby saliva and Arthur burst out laughing while Merlin threw his hands up in the air and lowered the milk shake closer to her instead.

Arthur kept laughing when he had a clear view of Merlin's face and Merlin scowled at him before demanding "And what do you find so funny?" in a dangerous voice and Arthur quietened holding his stomach and looking at Alexis who was sipping her milk shake enthusiastically now.

"Nothing" he said before he grabbed his remaining coffee and decided to change and head out for breakfast.

"Arthur' called Merlin and Arthur turned to look at him when Merlin said 'Uther will be coming later this afternoon to take Alexis out and he asked you to come too."

Arthur nodded and asked "When will he be here?"

Merlin refrained from rolling his eyes, as Uther was always here at the same time every Sunday since Alexis was five months old and despite three more months passing Arthur didn't seem to be aware of it, "1 o clock" Merlin missed the old times when conversations between them weren't just plain facts.

"Are you coming with?" asked Arthur dreading being left alone with Alexis, his father never invited him or Merlin when he went out with Alexis and this meant he must have heard about the divorce papers from Morgana. And the only other time he'd had to stay with Alexis alone was when she was about two months old and Merlin had to go out to fetch groceries and at that time she had blessedly slept through it all and then they always had a nanny to look after her when neither of them could be around.

"No, I have some work at the studio today and Sunday is a holiday for Elena." At Arthur's confused expression Merlin explained "Alexis' nanny"

Merlin could see that Arthur was dreading being alone with Alexis but Merlin decided it was about time he brought the problem to the front door and let Arthur confront it.

Arthur wanted to object and tell Merlin he knew nothing about taking care of Alexis but Morgana's words _'__You think you can just throw your money at her and she'll be satisfied with not having another parent?' _kept ringing in his mind and he decided that a baby couldn't be that much trouble after all.

Besides he was so not in the mood for a screaming match today and with that thought he went away and when he came back from work Merlin was in the hall with Alexis propped up on the sofa playing with some lego blocks as Merlin wrestled her feet into shoes and socks to match her red frilly frock.

"She has to dress up as well?" asked Arthur carefully knowing his father's insistence on making good impressions but surprised that this extended even to an eight month old baby. Although he had to admit the red frock looked beautiful on Alexis.

"No, but she has about hundred of these frocks all of which are a present from your father and I dress her up in it once a week to be polite though she's going to ruin it with dropping food on it anyway."

Merlin then pointed to a bag the size of a lap top bag on the other sofa and said "That is her bag take it with you, I've already changed her and fed her so she shouldn't be much of a problem, don't let her eat anything other than soup or semi solid food, no mushrooms, no sea food, nothing hard because her teeth aren't fully developed yet. Uther knows already so I shouldn't bother but you need to know anyway, so I guess I'll be going then" Merlin looked at Alexis happily sucking on her thumb and moving lego blocks and prayed that he wasn't making the wrong choice before he slipped out of the door into the afternoon and bustling streets making himself walk further, even if Arthur couldn't handle it Uther was more than responsible in taking care of his grand-daughter and Merlin kept walking after shaking his head wondering how normal today seemed to be after Arthur had filed for divorce and broke his heart just yesterday.

For one Arthur never joined them for breakfast or any meal ever since Alexis was born and they had almost managed to be civil to each other and Arthur had even laughed at one point. Maybe it was the knowledge that they no longer had to fight to keep their relationship together that had lifted off the restraints Arthur had placed around himself and Alexis and though Merlin was sad that their relationship had to come to this he was also just a tiny bit happy to see Arthur taking a small amount of interest in Alexis now.

Arthur didn't know what to with himself as there was a half an hour to kill before Uther should be here and he sat on the opposite sofa staring at Alexis for a while before he decided to switch on the tv and flipped through channels idly, he rolled his eyes as nothing good was on and was about to switch it off when he saw Alexis trying to get down and out of the sofa by pushing herself forward and reaching out with her hands. Arthur picked her up just in time before she could take a fall and placed her on the ground wondering if she could crawl yet and as she just sat there looking at the tv and swaying back and forth ever once in a while Arthur decided that she shouldn't be able to yet. Alexis got bored of the tv after a while and laid back down on the floor.

"Don't…don't lie on the floor!" berated Arthur not that Alexis could understand, she didn't even seem to be bothered by his voice which made Arthur sigh, "You're grandfather will never let me hear the end of it if he found you sleeping on the floor in my presence."

Arthur once again abandoned his place on the sofa as he picked her up making her look up at him curiously and she grabbed his nose with her hands and let out a small baby giggle, he moved her away from his body and dumped her on the sofa again sitting on the side farthest away from her.

He heard the door bell ring and let out a breath of relief and opened the door for Uther to enter, Uther gave him a significant look meaning that they were going to have a serious talk before he found his way towards his grand- daughter who was once again trying to get down the sofa, Uther picked her up gently and asked "And how is the Pendragon Princess doing today?"

Alexis looked thrilled to be picked up and tucked her head into the crook of Uther's neck, "She seems exhausted today"

Arthur shrugged and asked "Can we go now?"

Uther gave him a considering look before saying "Yes, there's something we need to talk about."

"Father' tried Arthur but Uther held his hand up and Arthur said 'fine, but whatever you say it's not going to change my mind, I am going through with the divorce whether you approve or not."

They were finally sat down at the Le Gavroche and ordered their respective meals and a soup for Alexis who seemed to be happy looking out at the various decorations of the opulent hotel.

"Do you always take her to these posh restaurants? There's nothing entertaining for a child here." Arthur stated as he noted the bored expression on his daughters face.

Uther grunted before he said "No, usually I take her to Hyde Park or something such, though she's too young to enjoy anything properly yet."

Arthur conceded his point and asked "Then why are we here?"

Uther took a sip of his wine before saying "Because I wanted to talk to you. Why have you decided to divorce Merlin?"

Arthur sighed wondering how many more people he had to explain things to, "Things aren't working out anymore and all we do is fight all the time so I see no point in being in the relationship."

Uther frowned and tilted his head towards Alexis who was closing her eyes and putting her head on the table top of the high chair, "What about Alexis? Haven't you thought of how this might affect her in the future?"

"Father, I am sure Merlin is capable enough to take care of her!"

Uther's eyes stormed with ill concealed fury when he said "You're going to let him raise her? She's an heir to the Pendragons and you're going to let that struggling simple minded fool raise her?"

Arthur was angry now too and with a cutting look he said "Need I remind you that that struggling simple minded fool was the one who carried and gave birth to her?"

"And Merlin is not a fool, he'd raise her well I'm sure and I'll still have visitation rights."

Uther narrowed his eyes and asked "Why are you still so defensive of him if you don't care about him anymore?"

"Oh I don't know, because you've never given him credit for all the things he does and just because we're getting divorced doesn't mean I don't care enough to let you trash him as you see fit. He's Alexis' other father, you can't expect her to not be disappointed if you continued to treat Merlin this way!"

Uther waved his hand away, "I am perfectly polite to him."

"You do realize that giving him parental responsibility means he gets to decide everything about her life, yes? Where she goes to school, when she chooses to visit you, deciding her medical treatment, everything!"

Arthur considered this for a moment before he wondered if he really wanted Merlin to be the one responsible for every decision about his daughters life and then nodded thoughtfully, "I'll ask Gwaine about if I can have more of a say in her life too, though I'm sure Merlin and I can work through it if we had a difference of opinion."

Uther simply said "You can't seem to work through your differences now. And you are the one with more financial background and the ability to provide a better life for her, you should be the one to have parental rights."

"That's different…" Arthur hedged and then their meal arrived and they ate in blessed but tense silence until Alexis got cranky and decided to start crying at which point Arthur offered "I'll take her out" cutting his meal short as he took her out into the clear summer air and she kept quiet and sagged onto his shoulders and just as Arthur was about to let out a relieved breath he felt something wet on his shoulders and realized it was Alexis chewing on his pricey Ralph Lauren black shirt and felt a mixture of disgust and amusement at how if it were someone else trying to chew on his shirt he might just wring their head. "I guess I have you to thank for howling at the right time and saving from even more conversation with your grand-father."

Alexis was only quiet for a while though and when Uther came out she was all out screaming and Arthur had no idea whatsoever about what to do with her, Uther noticed as soon as he saw them and asked "What does she want?"

"How should I know?" asked Arthur with a look that said 'do I look like I know what I'm doing here.'

"She's your daughter!" exclaimed Uther and Arthur sputtered before he asked "I'm sure you were better than me at handling babies in your time than I am!" sarcastically.

Uther looked taken aback by this but Alexis' crying grew louder and there were tears rolling down her cheeks and Arthur looked helpless and slightly scared and Uther decided to take pity and asked "Where is her bag Arthur? She probably needs water or needs to get changed."

"Her bag! What bag?!"

Uther gawked at him and as much as Arthur would have enjoyed seeing his father look dumbstruck he just then remembered the bag Merlin had asked him to take which was still in the house.

"It's still in the house, let's get back!" said Arthur as Uther nodded and called the driver to come with the car to the entrance.

Uther then nodded to the car and said "I have some work to get back to, you take her home."

"But I have no idea of why she's crying! Do you think I should take her to a hospital or something?" asked Arthur gritting his teeth at being seen so out of his element in front of his father.

Uther said "No, she probably needs changing, you would make a racket when you were young about that too, so go home and get to it." Uther left with an amused smile on his face, it wasn't everyday one saw the great Arthur Pendragon having a panic attack.

"Alright, alright!" Arthur in his panic got into the car and only when they were halfway through their ride did he remember that he didn't exactly know how to change a baby's diaper and Alexis was screaming her throat raw that he earnestly started to worry now.

He called Morgana first and all she said was, _'Honestly Arthur! You have an eight month old baby and you still don't know how to change her?'_

Then he called Gwen but she wouldn't pick up and finally he accepted defeat as he entered his house along with Alexis and called Merlin.

"Merlin, it's Arthur, Alexis won't stop crying and I don't know what's wrong with her, dad said all I have to do is change her but I don't know how to change her or even if she needs changing or she's crying for something else, what should I do?"

Merlin blinked for a minute on the other end before he said "Arthur, calm down, just get her out of the dress and remove her diapers, she should be fine. I'm on my way anyway and I'll be there in ten minutes tops."

"Oh thank god, she's been crying for over an hour straight! Come soon!"

Merlin's eyebrows drew together, this was the first sign that Arthur had shown about being concerned for Alexis and that was including the time when Alexis was sick with the flu when she was four months old and Merlin had to take her for multiple trips to the hospital while Arthur was being indifferent and downright ignorant of Alexis and Merlin. Absentmindedly Merlin wondered if he should have done this before already and made Arthur connect with Alexis but he was too heartsick and hurting at the time having felt lonely throughout his pregnancy and then after Alexis had been born.

**... ... ...**

When Merlin got in he heard Alexis' loud cries and immediately began searching the house calling out "Arthur, where are you?"

"In here Merlin!" came Arthur's shout from where their bedroom was and Merlin opened the door and went inside to see Alexis sitting naked on the bed with a towel underneath her, and the baby bag opened and all of its contents strewn about the bed.

Arthur looked terrified and Merlin lifted Alexis up from the bed and started rocking her back and forth but she didn't seem to stop crying although she was clutching on to Merlin tightly. Her sobs finally dissolved into hiccups and when Merlin held her in a horizontal position with both his arms supporting her head and body she lunged for Merlin's chest again and again and Arthur heard Merlin sigh and say "So that's what you want, you gave your daddy over there a bit of a fright lovely!"

Arthur was now confused and asked "What? What does she want?"

Merlin looked up and asked "Can you hold her for a sec?"

Arthur nodded "Sure" although he wasn't sure what Merlin was getting at and as soon as she was out of Merlin's arms Alexis started wailing again and Arthur saw Merlin calmly but quickly removing his first three shirt buttons and Arthur understood.

Merlin held out his arms for Alexis again and Arthur throat felt dry when he saw Merlin direct Alexis' mouth to his pink nipples and Alexis started to suck. Arthur turned away for a second before his eyes were back to staring and he noted that Merlin's chest was flat as always and yet it was different somehow, Merlin noticed Arthur staring and said "I'll take her to the nursery, she should be fine now."

"If you knew she'd need this then why didn't you tell me before?" asked Arthur angry now that he had been made to look like a fool in front of his father when Merlin must have known all along that Alexis would need feeding.

Merlin looked disbelievingly at Arthur before he said in an equally angry voice "I fed her just before I left, she usually just wants to be once a day since she got older but of course you wouldn't know that since you don't know anything about her anyway!"

"Oh so I was supposed to somehow know what she wants when you're the one who is around her all the time, had a laugh of it did you? It must have been so funny for you to see me running out of my mind with worry when apparently all she needed was your breast!"

"And whose mistake is that that I'm the one who is around her all the time? It's not like I'm stopping you from getting to know her! She's your daughter and you don't even know how to change her! And I do not have breasts!"

Arthur scoffed giving Merlin's chest a look where Alexis was sleepily sucking still not at all worried about the two arguing adults in the room, "Beg to differ Merlin, and I'm not around because I have to work you idiot!"

"Bullshit Arthur, I have work too and I find the time for her!"

Arthur sneered and said "If you call drawing up little cartoons for meager money as a real job!"

Merlin was enraged now and Arthur shut his mouth knowing he had insulted Merlin's work and crossed the line again and Merlin said "Fuck off Arthur!" and walked out to the nursery.

"Really Merlin, that's the best you can do?"

Merlin turned around and asked "Arthur, why are you doing this? It's not worry over Alexis, your picking a fight for the sake of picking a fight!"

"I am not picking a fight; I'm merely saying that you're an ignorant idiot who forgot to mention something important to me and made me look like an absolute fool in front of my father!"

Merlin placed Alexis who was fast asleep in her crib and stood up shaking his head disbelievingly, "Of course it's your father, it's always about your daddy issues with you isn't it?"

Arthur was about to scream but Merlin forcefully directed him out of the nursery whispering "Shut up, you'll wake her up!"

Arthur shrugged off Merlin's arms as soon as they were out and said "I expect those papers back tomorrow morning Merlin" and walked off.

.**.. ... ... ...**

Arthur noted Merlin didn't come back to the bedroom tonight either and tossed and turned in bed in a disturbed sleep waking up in the morning at 5 am and decided to trek through the house, he knew there were two guest bed rooms and Merlin must be in one of them and opened the first one to find it empty before he entered the next one and saw Merlin fast asleep with Alexis curled up close on top of him, both of them slumbering peacefully. Arthur asked himself honestly if he wanted to let them go, if he was alright with them leaving to find a new life away from him and remembered all the fights they had had, all the tension and the screaming and the times when neither Merlin nor Arthur could even look at each other and thought this was for the good, in the long run this separation would give them time to forget their brewing animosity and atleast allow them to act like civilized adults to each other. With his mind made up he left the house for an early jog.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello readers, so this is a new installment and I hope you guys will enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: All Merlin characters are owned by Shine and BBC**

**Warnings: Angst, jealousy, divorce, implied Mpreg.**

**Summary: After being in a civil partnership with Merlin for two years Arthur decides to get a divorce as he believes he's in a failed relationship and has fallen out of love with Merlin, it's a long bumpy road ahead when he realizes he never got over Merlin and has to right the wrongs he'd done.**

**Broken Bridge**

Chapter - 3

Merlin dumped the papers on the kitchen counter just as Arthur was sipping his coffee whilst simultaneously reading the news papers, "I've signed them" was Merlin's quick reply to Arthur's questioning look before he went out of the kitchen and Arthur sighed before getting up and following him to the hall where Merlin was idly flipping through some channels.

"Have you found a lawyer?" asked Arthur and Merlin gave him a cursory nod before he was once again watching the telly intently.

"We have to talk Merlin"

"Really? I think not, there's nothing we have to say to each other anymore."

"Merlin, don't be difficult."

Merlin's head snapped up, his blue eyed glare would have made a lesser man stumble but Arthur stood his ground and Merlin relented though he didn't drop the glare or the pinched expression of his face like this was the last thing he wanted to be doing, "Fine my Lord, to what do I owe this distinct displeasure?"

Arthur ignored the sarcasm and said "Whether you like it or not, we have to talk about financial settlements. I've outlined a document, you can have the estates in Harrow, and a three percent share in the Pendragon Corps. And twelve million euros which will be transferred to your account from mine and we'll set up a separate trust fund for Alexis for school fees and anything else."

Arthur produced the document and Merlin took a perfunctory glance before he tore it into two and handed and threw it on the coffee table.

Arthur who had been trying to keep his towering temper in check all this time exploded and screamed "What the hell Merlin?" as he trapped Merlin in the couch with both arms on the armrests and brought his face dangerously close to Merlin's as he gritted his teeth and asked "Why the fuck did you do that? Are you insane? Do you have any idea how many days I've slaved over those papers?"

Merlin looked completely unapologetic as he said "I'm sorry but I don't want it, any of it, I don't want your money, your estates or anything else you have to offer to me."

"Then what do you want?" asked Arthur as he pulled back and started to rub his temples in agitation.

"I've already signed the divorce papers; I want nothing from you Arthur Pendragon. When this is over with I don't even want your memory." Merlin was lying through his teeth of course but it was satisfying to see Arthur flinch and fist his hands either way.

Arthur didn't think that comment should hurt as much as it did.

"You can't support your cushy life without the money Merlin, my money!"

Merlin laughed derisively before saying "Unlike you Arthur, I was not born with a golden spoon, I was a scholarship student and I waded my way through life just _fine _before you came along! I don't want all your luxuries to be happy."

"Maybe not you, but I won't stand for my only daughter having to suffer through middle class living arrangements when I could give her better."

Merlin crossed his legs on the coffee table as he intoned "Oh so now you suddenly care about your daughter."

"I've always cared about her!" insisted Arthur, which was true according to him anyway, he may not be as close and affectionate to her as Merlin was but he'd never not cared, yesterday was proof enough of that.

"Oh well, you sure have a crappy way of showing it! Besides she's my daughter too and I don't want her to be some rich spoiled snothead with little brains and a lot of air in her head."

Arthur gave him a cold look this time as he knew full well who Merlin was alluding to and said "I could win custodial rights for her Merlin, you know I can and that I will if you push me."

Merlin scoffed and said "You can try, just in case you want to know my lawyer is Annis Walker."

Annis Walker was the oldest and most successful divorce lawyer in town and Arthur was baffled at how Merlin could pay her impossible fee when he decided Merlin must be fibbing and said "You're fibbing Merlin, you couldn't possibly afford her."

"Actually I'm not, she's Gaius' old friend and I've known her since I was a kid, she's the one who introduced me to Morgause Ivan."

Morgause Ivan was Merlin's publisher and Arthur sighed feeling a headache growing and dropped on the opposite couch looking worse for wear. He was tired, he was hungry and cranky and getting into a fight with Merlin right in the morning was not making his day any better and Merlin who ignored Arthur for a while watching the telly then turned his eyes to look back at him and despite himself he took pity on him and said "You can set up a trust fund for her and anything else you want to do for her but don't question the way I want to raise her." Arthur just hummed and Merlin idly thought Uther must be driving them all hard if Arthur was surrendering so easily, or maybe he simply didn't care anymore. Trying to diffuse the awkward silence Merlin said "After all technically I'm her mother and you know what they say 'mothers know best'"

A small smile curved Arthur's lips though he still had his eyes closed and Merlin sighed gawking at Arthur, he couldn't help himself, Arthur in a suit was always a great turn on and today Arthur was wearing his second best Armani suit with a red tie which was Morgana's present to him for his birthday last year to match the pristine blue shirt. Merlin was reminded of the first time he and Arthur had met when Arthur was in quite a similar suite.

* * *

_Flashback_

_It was a particularly busy day in Starbucks and Merlin was going utterly neurotic with the amount of customers coming in and screaming for their morning fix of caffeine. He had joined just a week ago and hadn't yet learned to get a handle of the more complicated orders and barked them off to Elyan who was more equipped to deal with those. _

_A red haired women was screaming "Where is my coffee boy?! I ordered ten minutes ago!"_

_Merlin tried to smile but it came out as grimace as he placated "We're a bit understaffed today mam, just a few more minutes and you'll have your cuppa all warm and sweet!"_

"_I don't want sweet, did you mess up the order? I am a diabetic!"_

"_Uh..I will be back" said Merlin his flailing arms knocking over a hot steaming cup of coffee and guess who should be standing right close to it but Arthur Pendragon._

_Merlin at the time hadn't known who Arthur was but had only had one thought 'Oh my God, he's gorgeous' before he realized he had spilled coffee on the guy and that the blond haired Adonis was now glaring at him. He sputtered before he started apologizing profusely "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, it was an accident, I'm sorry!"_

_The glare didn't fade though and if anything it got intense and Merlin tensed when the guy pulled him forward by grabbing his shirt and demanded "Do you have any idea how much this suit costs? You buffoon, its worth about ten times the money you'd make in your whole pathetic life!"_

_Merlin had been enraged too then and in a fit of rage he pulled the blonds head away from himself and pushed the arrogant prat away which made the guy stumble before he caught himself on the counter. "I apologized you arse, if you want me to pay your dry cleaning bills then fine but don't you dare go about insulting me or my job!"_

_Arthur looked taken aback by this and asked "Do you know who I am?"_

_Merlin without missing a beat said "Yes, you're an entitled prat who has his head up his arse."_

_Arthur laughed derisively before he said "You're fired!"_

_Merlin looked shocked before he said "You can't do that, who do you think you are, the manager?"_

_Arthur looked condescending before he explained casually "No, but I'm willing to bet he'll agree, won't you Mark?"_

_Mark who had been listening to the whole commotion said "Yes " and gave a patronizing stare to Merlin who slumped his shoulders and walked around, taking off his apron along the way and he would have walked away with whatever of his dignity was left remaining but then he saw the smirk or 's face and couldn't let this be the ending as he took two cups right off the counter and poured them down Arthur's front and then back when all of the customers and staff gaped at him._

_For a while no one made a sound and then a group of college students started laughing and giving Merlin a thumbs up as Merlin grinned and said "That was payback for getting me fired, have a good day!" With his cheery disposition Merlin managed to flee out the door before Arthur who was furious beyond all belief caught up to him and pulled his hand to turn Merlin around and Merlin being slighter than Arthur but no less angry lunged with a fist which Arthur easily caught and twisted behind his back and Merlin struggled for a while before he heard Arthur whisper "You will pay for that Merlin Emrys." Arthur spat the name as if it were vermin and released him from his strong hold and walked away managing to look intimidating even when he was drowned in coffee._

* * *

"What are you smiling about?" asked Arthur as Merlin looked up startled.

"Oh nothing just thought about how I drowned you in coffee the first time we met and how much I'd like to drown you in dog piss now."

"And you say you don't want my memories!" tutted Arthur and Merlin scowled.

"Should've known you'd let me down even then." At Arthur's somewhat betrayed look Merlin said "You were a candid prat then and you still are now."

"And you were a red cheeked sass and you still are, you needed someone like me to tame you!"

"What am I now an animal? No, don't answer; even if I am you're obviously not a good tamer and I just have to find someone better!"

Arthur was riled despite himself and stood up and walked out wondering how Merlin always managed to irritate the hell out of him and drove him up a wall so fast with his well placed comments.

Arthur had been into two board meetings, three disputes within various departments and an impossible call with their Ireland manager, fired his personal assistant again and was well and truly exhausted when the last person he wanted to see entered the room looking bright and cheery.

Arthur groaned and made a shooing gesture, "Not in the mood to deal with you today harpy!"

"And what might I ask has gotten you in this sour a mood? Oh wait I know! You aren't getting any naughty times with Merlin!"

Arthur scoffed saying "I haven't been getting any 'naughty times' with Merlin ever since he got pregnant!"

"It's all your fault honey, you were the one who'd missed thousands of opportunities and left him high and dry while you crammed yourself up in this office."

Arthur looked confounded as he said "Wait what? He told you I left him high and dry?"

"Not me!" Morgana said looking at Arthur like he were a dimwit before she said "But when he's got something to tell, he tells Gwen and Gwen always tells me."

"Wait, he told Gwen I left him high and dry?"

Morgana shrugged "Not in quite the same wording but yes, he was horny and you weren't around, I'm surprised he didn't demand you come home to jump his bones, apparently pregnancy horniness is extremely frustrating if you don't work it out."

"Huh, when he was in his morning sickness face he'd yell and curse me if I ever came within three feet of him."

"Ah, first trimester, you should have waited until the second for the fun to start."

"And you would know all these how?"

"Morgause just delivered her son last week."

"You're still thick as a pair of thugs I take it?"

"Don't worry dearest; you're still my favorite half-sibling to torture."

"Wow, don't I feel lucky!"

Morgana sat down on the table and gave him a serious look, "How's Merlin taking it?"

Arthur raised his eyebrows and then shrugged as he said "Oh he wants to drown me in dog piss and he refused to take the money and the estates but otherwise he's fine."

"Drown you in dog piss? That's not half bad an idea!"

"Apparently he was reminiscing about the time he drowned me in coffee."

Morgana laughed her tinkling beautiful laugh and said "Oh I'd forgotten about that, you were in a snit for the whole week and you wouldn't stop harping about the 'moron with ears the size of an elephants' and then you sought him out next time, you weren't that bad even when Andrea Benson cheated on you in high school!"

"Andrea Benson was a sleaze!" exclaimed Arthur and Morgana said "Don't say I didn't warn you!"

"And I did not seek him out, he just happened to be in the same restaurant!"

"Well, you did after your second altercation and boy was it fun to see you chasing someone for once!"

Arthur stated "I have to find a new personal assistant."

"What did you do to Morris?"

"I fired him."

"Another one?" exclaimed Morgana.

"He was incompetent."

"Who isn't according to you?"

"Merlin wasn't" said Arthur like it was second nature to proclaim it and then tried to cover it up by saying "Well that is…he wasn't useless when he wasn't being an idiot which he was most of the time."

"Sure honey, keep telling yourself that, you may even believe it one day, if you're lucky that day might be in this century."

Arthur sighed before asking "Morgana, don't you have anything else to do other than annoying me?"

Morgana got up from the table and said "Actually, now that you mention it, I have! See you later!"

"May later be never!" murmured Arthur as he rolled his shoulders and sighed leaning back and stretching his shoulders and memories came unbidden to his mind.

* * *

_Flashback_

_He was dining with Leon and Valiant when he saw the waiter serving the opposite table and Arthur immediately recognized him as the boy who had humiliated him in front of all the people in Starbucks and smirked thinking this could be fun as he summoned the manager and asked him to specifically make the waiter serve their table._

_Merlin recognized Arthur immediately and the momentary fear in his eyes made Arthur's blood sing but then he masked it well and asked "How may I help you today sirs?" in a polite tone with a perfect poker face on._

"_You can start by being less clumsy for one, you do know you will get fired if you demonstrate your lack of co-ordination here, don't you big ears?"_

_Arthur admitted it was very un-witty as far as insults went but when he saw the fear swimming in Merlin's eyes again he was satisfied and Merlin served dutifully and properly and Arthur who was disappointed tripped him over when he was pouring Valiant's wine and as a result it spilled on the front of Valiant's pricey trousers and needless to say Valiant was pissed and without a moment's thought he had slapped Merlin hard across the cheeks and it was then that Arthur felt the shame and guilt and the vague sense of wanting to punch Valiant in his pudgy face._

_The manager had been called and Merlin was fired right away due to Valiant's indignant squaking and as Merlin passed Arthur he muttered "You really a horrible excuse of a human!" before walking out with his head held high._

* * *

Thinking of it now made Arthur frown at his appalling behavior and Merlin was right to call him a candid prat because he was then but Arthur liked to think he had improved from that time, even then he was never that rude to anyone but Merlin. There was something about Merlin that never failed to get a reaction out of Arthur.

* * *

The doorbell jingled as Merlin entered Gaius' shady store and Merlin made his way inside looking at the odd trinkets here and there before Gaius was out at the counter and smiling when he saw Merlin, "Merlin, m'boy, come here!" he exclaimed in joy and Merlin mirrored his wide smile and went forward letting Gaius hold him tight for a minute before Gaius pulled him back and looked at him.

"Not having enough time to pay this old man a visit once in a while now eh Merlin?"

Merlin apologized, he really should make more time to visit his father figure, "I'm sorry Gaius, Alexis pretty much takes all of my time now."

"Ah, the young one, how is she and how is Uther's son?"

"Alexis is fine, growing up as fast as a weed! And Arthur's his usual self"

Gaius then offered him a seat on the sofa before he asked "So what is the reason for this surprise visit, not that I'm not happy to see you but you look trouble Merlin."

Merlin sighed and smiled sadly before he said "I just needed an ear to listen to me, Arthur's divorcing me."

Gaius's sharp intake of breath was heard very clearly in the quiet room before he sighed and Merlin looked at him in a little disappointment as he had expected more shock or empathy from Gaius who just looked like he expected this would happen.

"And how do you feel about that?" asked Gaius gently and Merlin finally allowed himself to feel what he had been really feeling like since Arthur had announced that he wanted a divorce.

"It's tearing me apart, I've never let anyone as close to me as him despite the rocky start of our relationship, we were happy, we used to be happy, then Alexis came along and he started pulling away more and more and by the time I realized it, I had lost him….and I love him Gaius, I still love him and I'm afraid I'm always going to….though…though God knows the prat doesn't deserve it from me. He as good as deserted me during the pregnancy and then after Alexis was born!"

"Merlin, I cannot say I'm surprised by this, no matter what he is still Uther's son and I've never wanted to encourage your relationship but the fact is that sometimes you're going to love a person and not ever stop, that doesn't mean it's necessarily a bad thing Merlin, love is a constant in our lives, something nobody ever escapes from, in time you will see that loving him is just a part of your life…it may seem overwhelming now but one day you will wake up and realize it's just a part of what you are and that you can love other people too and then you will find happiness again."

Merlin smiled at Gaius and said "You really are a wise old man when you're not babbling about horoscopes and magic."

Gaius slapped the back of his head and said "Now tell me more about your daughter, I haven't met her in months!"

Merlin smiled and launched into the details of his child's growth and all the milestones she'd achieved so far and Gaius listened until it was time to close the place and they headed out for a drink before Merlin had to back to relieve Elena from her job.

* * *

Arthur came back home to find the nanny and Alexis playing in the living room and Arthur cleared his throat and asked "Isn't Merlin home yet?"

The nanny, Arthur couldn't remember her name though she looked innocent and beautiful in her blond curls and wide green eyes as she said "He went out to meet a friend Mister Pendragon, he told me he would be back within nine."

Arthur frowned wondering which friend Merlin had to meet until that time of the night on a weekday and decided to ask "When did he leave?"

"Uhmm…..about six thirty I think."

Arthur was surprised and a little suspicious though that was probably his tired mind's doing and said "I trust Alexis hasn't been fussy?"

Elena gave him a bright smile then and said "Oh no, she's a darling just like Merlin."

Arthur's eyes narrowed at the comment but Alexis had grabbed Elena's attention and she missed his glare as he quickly left her to go up the stairs wondering who Merlin could be meeting for three hours straight.

Arthur was sitting in the kitchen reading a few files he'd taken back home from the office when he saw Merlin return and Elena and Merlin exchanging conversation and turned away when they both started laughing about something and then Elena left and Merlin hefted Alexis into his arms and started talking to her in his baby voice "And how are we today? Did Elena play with you? Did you have fun?"

Alexis seemed to be delighted to be hearing Merlin's voice though she couldn't understand anything yet and happily laughed as Merlin made some funny faces at her. Merlin turned up and suddenly noticed Arthur sitting in the kitchen and Arthur saw his eyes widen in surprise before Merlin schooled his expression into one of casual disinterest as he stated "You're home early."

"Mhmm, and you're home late."

Merlin scoffed and said "Nine is hardly late Arthur and it's not like I have anything better to do here other than take care of Alexis." He put Alexis in her high chair and cut up some fruit for her to eat and placed it on the table in front of her.

"You left our daughter in the care of a nanny for nearly three hours Merlin! She's eight months old and what would you have done if she'd cried like the other day."

Merlin slammed the fridge door hard and said "Alright one, just because I have Alexis doesn't mean I can't have a life and two Elena is more than capable of taking care of her, she's not you, she actually knows a thing or two about babies and is the best recommended nanny in town."

"Yes yes, I can see how fond of Elena you are, who were you meeting with anyway?" asked Arthur in a deceptively nonchalant tone.

"It's none of your business what I do in my free time." Merlin pulled out a jam bottle and started to apply it to the toast he'd made.

"Beg to differ Merlin, I do have the right to know where you were."

Merlin huffed annoyed and crossed his arms in front of his chest "Didn't you read up the meaning of divorce in the dictionary? It doesn't exactly say I have to let you know anything about my life, actually it states that I am now independent of your expectations and obligations and can do whatever I damn well please."

"YES, but we're not divorced yet!" shouted Arthur getting more and more angry the more Merlin was refusing to reveal who he'd been out with.

"We will be" Merlin said with certainty and Arthur head reeled for a minute before Merlin continued "and you better get used to me not telling you anything about my life because it's not relevant to you."

"I AM STILL YOU'RE HUSBAND MERLIN, WHO WERE YOU WITH TONIGHT?"

Merlin shook his head disbelievingly at Arthur and said "You really are something you know, you have no right to be jealous when you've ignored me for the past year! And I don't have to tell you anything!"

Merlin made to pass out of the kitchen with his toast but Arthur caught his hand and when Merlin brought his other hand up to slap or punch him Arthur easily twisted his hands behind his back and held him there as he chuckled into Merlin's ears, his soft black hair ticking his nostrils and he taunted "Ah, ah Merlin, you never learn, don't you know you can never land a punch on me if you're life depended on it?"

"You prat, let me go" said Merlin struggling to free himself as being this close to Arthur was doing dangerous things to his insides and his heart was pounding in his ears as if it wanted to escape it's rib cage.

Arthur was experiencing a thrill himself and a sense of déjà vu at holding Merlin like this once again as he whispered "Tell me and I'll let you go."

Merlin shivered at Arthur's husky voice so close to his ear, he could feel the outline of Arthur's lips against the shell of his ear lobe when he took a deep breath and asked "Why do you care anyway? You're going to divorce me and that would mean we're both free to pursue other relationships!" Merlin tried reasonably though he didn't know why he just didn't tell Arthur he was with Gaius and end this ridiculous charade. Oh he knew alright, he just wanted to see how far he could push Arthur, wanted to see if he still cared about Merlin and Merlin's heart which was still very much in love with Arthur sang with delight at knowing Arthur was jealous.

"Are you then? Are you pursuing another relationship? When the divorce hasn't even been filed in court yet?

Merlin sighed and relented, being twisted in an unnatural position did tender to waver one's resistance and he said "I was with Gaius alright! I went to visit him in his store!"

Arthur held him for a second longer before he released him from his hold and Merlin saw Alexis looking at them both curiously from her high chair and Merlin though they really should try to behave like civilized adults in front of Alexis atleast, unbestknown to him Arthur was having the exact similar thoughts and floundered for a minute before going to upstairs to the bed room to try and get some sleep with his confused and muddled thoughts.

Merlin wasn't coming back to their bedroom today either and when Arthur opened the closet he found it had been emptied of Merlin's belongings and felt a keen sense of loss and wrongness about the entire situation but berated himself for having such confusing feelings, _'you're getting divorced Arthur, these are all things that are supposed to happen'_ except no matter how many times he repeated it to himself in his mind the sense of loss still persisted and Arthur slept with a frown marring his face.

**I am frowning as I finished this chapter and you guys can guess why, 690 people viewed, 20 people added the story to favorites but none of you have reviewed.**

**Well this means, I'm going to have to put the story on a backburner and write my other stories which do receive lots of reviews!**

**Please review if you want a fast update! So Arthur still cares and now who do you want me to pair Merlin with to make Arhtur jealous? Gwaine? Leon? Percival? But it has to be one of the Knights of the round table!  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**So, I've created a new livejournal account and I'm so excited about it, in order to promote the page I'm going to be posting all my stories and ****updates a day earlier than I post it on fanfiction,**** I've put up a link for my lj page in my fanfiction profile and news about updates and such will also be posted in my livejournal page from now on.**

**Enjoy reading and don't forget to review and PERCIVAL is the winning candidate to make Arthur jealous in this story because I don't see Gwaine being very much different from Arthur.**

**Broken Bridge**

Chapter - 4

Arthur heard the doorbell ring loudly and groaned as he was slumped over the couch sleeping in an unnatural position as he saw Merlin rushing out from his peripheral vision to open the door. He heard more than felt the squealing greetings of Gwen and Lance and their son Hector as they entered and Arthur sat up rubbing his eyes when both of them were in the living room.

Merlin took Hector from Gwen and led him to the kitchen where he could hear the babbling sounds of Alexis.

Lance was the one who saw him first and he exclaimed "You look worse for wear, are you alright?"

Arthur gave him a small smile and said "Yeah, yes I'm fine, just a long night at work."

Gwen looked concerned but said nothing anyway as she said "We're going out to that new diner that opened in Duke's Road today and Merlin offered to watch Hector for the evening."

Arthur couldn't comprehend how Merlin could offer to watch another small yowling kid but he couldn't very well say that as Merlin seemed to be making Gwen and Lance happy and he nodded. He'd come back in only in the afternoon after a grueling two days of work and he saw Lance gearing up for a talk when he saw Gwen entering the kitchens.

"You've be running yourself ragged with work, haven't you?" asked Lance and Arthur shrugged off his concern.

"This merger has us all up working late Lance, it's very very important, we've been working on this deal with Mercia for three years and it's finally coming together. It's just a bit of extra work."

Lance refused to be dissuaded though and said "Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? You've lost weight, you have ever present dark circles and you're divorcing Merlin of all things!"

Arthur was bristled and leant forward asking "What does that have to do with anything?"

Lance gave him a skeptical look before saying "It's obvious you avoid your problems by sinking yourself neck deep in work! You wouldn't be stupid enough to file for divorce if you were actually willing to work through your problems instead of finding the easier way out."

"There is no problem Lance except for us being together, we are the problem."

Lance looked bewildered, "Arthur, are you really so dense as to not see what your standing to loose here?"

"Not a lot more than raging fights and a whole lot of headache!"

"Arthur, you love him! Does that really not matter to you anymore?"

Arthur who was tired of having everyone tells him the exact same thing over and over again exploded saying "No I don't Lance, love is dead! Alright! I just want this to end!"

What they failed to notice was that Gwen and Merlin were standing right there and had probably heard everything they had said and Arthur felt winded as he saw the tears brimming in Merlin's eyes and Gwen's scowl and turned away from the sight of Merlin's face too guilty about having hurt Merlin as it was the last thing he wanted to do.

Merlin turned and left disappearing back into the kitchen while Lance and Gwen looked at each other awkwardly and then at Arthur before Gwen went back in to check on Merlin.

Unbestknown to Arthur, Gwen and Merlin were having a conversation about Arthur as well before they came back to the hall to hear Arthur declaring that he didn't love Merlin anymore and he just wanted it all to end.

Gwen stopped Merlin from getting a drink for her and Lance from the fridge when she put a hand on his and shouldered him away from the fridge. "Merlin, what was that?"

Merlin looked confused and asked "What was what?"

Gwen rolled her eyes and said "Arthur! He looks like a ghost!" she looked at Merlin as if he should be guilty and Merlin shrugged her arm off.

"I can't be held responsible if he wants to kill himself with work."

Merlin turned back towards the fridge not facing Gwen's accusing stare as he asked "What would you like to drink?"

Gwen turned him back around easily enough and said "Merlin, you're not getting out of this one! I know you're both not exactly on the best of terms but Merlin you have to talk to him!"

Merlin looked bewildered and angry at the same time as he asked "And what pray tell should I say? It's not like he listens to me anymore, and we aren't just not on best terms, he filed for divorce! Which means he's on his own from now on!"

"Merlin, listen to me, I know you're angry and I know you're upset but if you let him go on this way he's going to get sick! Look at him, when was the last time he went out or even had a decent meal?"

Merlin frowned his expression softening as he heaved a big sigh and stated "You think I haven't tried Gwen? I've tried talking, screaming, everything I know in the book, the only solution at this point would be to lock him up in his room but then he'd definitely murder me."

Gwen just looked even more dismayed as she pleaded "Please Merlin, you're the only person he'll listen to aside from Morgana and Uther."

Merlin pursed his lips before he nodded and said "Fine, I'll talk with him, not that it would change anything."

Alexis squealed interrupting their talk as Hector crawled back with a toy bear she had thrown far away and handed it to her. Hector smiled at Alexis and Alexis who was feeling quite generous handed him a little rubber mouse she had been playing with after she had thrown her bear away.

Gwen and Merlin smiled at them both proudly and Gwen said "Just wait until she starts crawling, she'll give you all manner of trouble."

Merlin faked a shudder at that and Gwen slapped his arm, "Alright, are you sure you'll be okay here? I know I shouldn't have asked you to babysit especially when you're going through this and I didn't mean to, I called Morgana but she said she was out on a date with Leon and the nanny took a sick leave and my father is on a vacation and I feel like a horrible person for asking you"

"GWEN!" Merlin cut in as he knew she could go on blabbering for hours,he assured her saying "Hector is always a darling for me, so shoo, go out and have your night with your Lancelot!"

Gwen smiled and said "Thankyou Merlin, this really means a lot."

Merlin shrugged "No problem, you should get going." Merlin and Gwen exited the kitchen just to hear Arthur and Lance arguing and Merlin froze when he heard his worst fears confirmed by Arthur's loud proclamation and the tears came unbidden at Arthur's outright rejection and Merlin stormed out of the room and went upstairs. He'd locked himself up in the guest bed room when he heard the quiet insistent knocking and Gwen's anxious voice "Merlin, Merlin, are you alright? No, of course you're not, stupid of me to ask, I'm so sorry Merlin, Merlin open the door."

Merlin who had his head leaned on the other side of the door and sat hugging his knees to his chest heaving with silent sobs said "Gwen…please go away."

Gwen not knowing what to do felt her own eyes brimming with tears for Merlin's pain and she stormed down the stairs and found Arthur and Lance standing up and arguing again when she stepped in and slapped Arthur right on his face. The ringing sound echoed in the room as Arthur stared in a shock at Gwen who screamed "How could you say that you're done with him?! How can you break his heart so completely?! Do you have any idea what this is doing to him?"

Arthur bowed his head and crossed his arms in front of his chest, "I take it Merlin's in a state.." he said quietly yet with a hint of detached depreciation.

This only seemed to anger Gwen even more as she said "In a state? In a state? You've torn apart his heart Arthur, what has he ever done but love you for you to treat him like this?" Gwen demanded and Arthur snarled clenching his fists when Lance interceded and put himself in between Gwen and Arthur looking at Arthur warningly.

"You know what Gwen; I don't have to answer to you, any of you." Arthur told in deceptive calm before he walked out of the house slamming the door on his way out.

Gwen snorted, "I should go check up on Merlin, can you see to Hector and Alexis?"

Lance nodded, "Sure."

Both of them knew they were not going to be able to spend the night cheerfully when they knew Merlin needed their support and Gwen kissed Lance on the cheek saying "We'll go out next week, promise!"

Lance hugged her close and said "Don't worry about it, go see how Merlin is doing."

Arthur was driving his car at breakneck speed not caring about anything but the fury burning in his gut and the sting on his cheeks as he pedaled the accelerator hard, why did it have to be so difficult for him, why was everyone insisting on butting their noses in his personal life, damn it everyone was taking Merlin's side and treating him as the villain. Sweet, innocent Merlin could do no wrong in all their eyes and he was the bad omen in their relationship, what they didn't know was the number of times he'd gone home in the past year to a disgruntled and demanding Merlin always asking him why he was late, where he was and there was one spectacular time when he'd been accused of cheating and they'd both screamed their throat hoarse, accusations flying and barely restraining themselves from taking it physical.

And then there was Alexis, Merlin was always wanting Arthur to be fatherly to her and when he failed or refused to become overly attached Merlin always incited that Arthur had daddy issues and his avoidance of Alexis stemmed from his own childhood which Merlin knew was a sore spot for Arthur and yet kept bringing it up until one day Arthur had screamed that Merlin would know nothing about 'daddy issues' because what right did he have to mention Arthur's father again and again when Merlin's father had deserted him. Merlin had looked stunned then and told Arthur to 'fuck off.'

In his mind numbing anger he didn't see the car crossing the intersection from the side or the red lights indicating he was supposed to stop and he slammed the breaks and twisted the steering wheels just in time to save a huge accident as he heard the scraping of metal against metal and the sound of something breaking before the car came to a stop and his head lolled down from the impact. There was the sound of blaring horns and the sirens of traffic police when he overcame his dizzy spell and assessed the damage to his car, the front glass was shattered but thankfully hadn't broke and rained shards on him and his leg was twisted in an unnatural position but otherwise he was fine and he slowly moved himself out holding his banged up leg with both his hands.

He felt pretty disoriented and the medics and police were there to open and the door and pull him out as he heard one of the police men ask "Are you alright there?"

Arthur nodded and groaned when he felt pain exploding behind his eyes and forehead.

"I think we'll let the medics check you out anyway."

The headlights and the noise were killing his head and over all that noise he heard someone with an all together annoying and shrill voice saying "Whoever he is, he better pay up for banging up my BMW!"

Arthur only then remembered that he had a collision with another car and asked "Is anyone on the other vehicle hurt?"

The police man shook his head saying "Nope, but that feisty lady is probably going to give you hell for breaking her headlights mate."

Arthur saw said lady and immediately fell dumbstruck, of all the people to crash on he had to go and bang the car of a very attractively dressed high-born lady and Arthur felt his gut clench as he saw the damage the car had sustained and wondered how much of his bank balance he had to pay up to fix it, not that it would be a heavy loss, not even in the least but still Arthur cringed when he saw the glare directed at him and turned away sheepishly.

The medics made him sit down in their mobile van along with the woman whose car he had trashed, and he refrained from squirming as Pendragons did not squirm and listened as the medics questioned the woman first.

"What's your name mam?"

"Sophie Timor."

"Have you sustained any injuries? Feel any pain anywhere?"

"No, although I do believe my hairdo has totally been wrecked because of this." She spat looking at Arthur who couldn't believe the nerve of the woman and refrained from rolling his eyes.

The medic then turned to him repeating the same question. "What's your name sir?"

"Arthur Pendragon." Arthur stated and he heard the woman sitting near him give out a squeal and he winced when she started to turn to him with a disturbingly eager expression.

"Pendragon? As in the Arthur of the Pendragon Corps.?" she asked and when Arthur frowning now gave a nod she squealed again and said "Oh my god, I can't believe I'm meeting you! I am an ardent admirer, I've read every one of your interview they've published."

She then extended her hand and grabbed his and before he had time to pull it back she said in a rush, "Sophie Timor, pleased to make your acquaintance Mister Pendragon!"

Arthur nodded and then thanked the gods when the medic intervened stating "Mam, I really have to check him out, he seems pretty banged up."

Sophie shot him a dark look and then smiled at Arthur who groaned when the medic starting poking his leg and said "God, that hurts, is it broken?"

The medic squeezed his knee a few more times before declaring "Luckily not, there's only a sprain which should go down in a few days or so."

"I need to examine your head."

"I'm fine really, there's nothing wrong except the leg."

"Mr. Pendragon, you're bleeding from a gash on your head, it probably needs stitches and we'll have to take a CT to be sure we're not missing anything, you're going to have to come to the hospital with me, do you have any relatives we can call?"

Arthur thought about calling someone, Morgana maybe but decided against it as he said "No, no, I'll be fine by my own."

"I can go with him." It was Sophie Timor and Arthur looked bewildered and a bit weary as he said "No Miss Timor, I think I can manage on my own and please send the bills to repair the damage to Pendragon Corps. I'll make sure it's paid for."

"Oh, it's no bother, and call me Sophie."

The medic once again intervened saying "Mister Pendragon, I suspect you have a concussion and I'm going to need to call a relative."

Arthur sighed and then nodded handing over Morgana's number and Sophie looked disappointed for some reason before she kissed Arthur's cheek and disappeared with an enthusiastically shouted 'get well soon' right in Arthur's ears which made him groan again and the medic smiled at him in pity and he felt himself drifting off.

When Arthur woke up again he was confused for a second about where he was before he looked around and deduced that he was in a hospital. His throat was parched and he swallowed a couple of times before he found a solid weight impinging on his right pinkie finger and found a curly mop of dark black hair. He could recognize that hair anywhere in a crowd and moved his hand groaning at the pain movement was causing him and Merlin woke up, his sleep smudged eyes looking blood shot and his hair mussy that was normal and Arthur's mind provided him with a single thought _'adorable'_ before reality caught up with him and he asked "Merlin, what are you doing here?"

Arthur caught the look of hurt on Merlin's face before Merlin schooled his features into something resembling apathy before saying "Taking care of you obviously. You're a right idiot you know that?"

Arthur managed to sit up after quite a lot of moaning as Merlin watched with a sympathy knowing Arthur would not accept help, he never did when he was sick and it was one of the things about Arthur that drove Merlin crazy at times.

"Can you hand me that glass of water?" asked Arthur quietly to Merlin who sighed and gave it to him and watched as Arthur sipped slowly until he had finished almost the entire glass.

"I thought I gave Morgana's number to the medic.." mused Arthur and Merlin glared, Arthur only looked at him expectantly and Merlin sighed again.

"Well you shouldn't have, you should have given them my number, I am your husband and your medical proxy!"

Arthur felt stumped by that and didn't refute or say anything for a while before he asked "But Alexis…" in a worried tone, he had been having increasing thoughts of his daughter ever since he'd been forced to take care of her alone without Merlin that day weeks ago.

Merlin felt surprised when Arthur seemed to be genuinely worried and belatedly reassured him saying "She's with Morgana."

At that Arthur grunted looking at Merlin dubiously, "You left her with Morgana of all people?"

Merlin looked flabbergasted and felt a little out of his depth because Arthur had never questioned any decision he made about Alexis before and having him showing concern and being almost protective was something he'd never had to deal with before, "Well someone needed to be here with you!" stated Merlin a little defensively.

Arthur rolled his eyes skywards and said "I am an adult Merlin, I'd have been fine with Morgana, you on the other hand should have stayed with Alexis! What if she needs your…" Arthur hesitated and Merlin gave him a shrewd glare.

"If you're going to say breasts again I'll make sure you never get out of this hospital for a week."

Arthur snorted "Firstly, you can't do that and I wasn't going to say breasts, Jesus I was trying to find a polite way of saying it without saying it!"

Merlin grumbled "yeah whatever" and sat down at the fairly uncomfortable waiting chair.

Arthur settled back down into the bed and said "I really am fine Merlin, you don't have to stay here."

Merlin scoffed and said "Driving your car at inhuman speed and getting yourself nearly killed is not fine Arthur, it's the definition of everything not fine."

"I'm not suicidal if that's what you're implying."

"No you're just a hot headed prat!"

"Wow, you have a way of making a wounded man feel better Merlin."

"Wounded right…" scoffed Merlin, 'if I know you you're going to be up and insisting on going to work the moment they discharge you."

"Well of course Merlin, I'm not a complete girl like you!"

"Will you ever stop calling me that? It's really quite offending."

"Merlin, you were up the duff, it doesn't get more 'girl' than that."

Merlin quietened looking sullen and sour and Arthur chuckled still lackadaisical due to the amount of pain meds pumping in his system and Merlin's lips quirked up in a small grin too as he came to the abrupt realization that this was the first time in a long time that they had had a friendly banter, the thing that both of them used to do on a daily basis when the animosity and Merlin's reluctance had faded when he'd caved to Arthur's hot pursuit. Idly Merlin wondered if the medicines they had given Arthur was what made him so unusually complacent and relaxed around Merlin when he was usually so tense and taut whenever they were in the same room these days.

As Merlin saw Arthur drifting off in sleep Merlin quietly whispered "What happened to us Arthur?" sadly in a voice filled with anguish.

Arthur who had heard what Merlin said struggled not to open his eyes or hitch his breath as he though sadly, _'I don't know Merlin, I don't know…I'm sorry.'_

**Unfortunately the answer is yes, I've introduced Sophie for a reason and I think you can all guess what!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Warnings: SLASH, implied Mpreg, divorce.**

**Summary: After being in a civil partnership with Merlin for two years Arthur decides to get a divorce as he believes he's in a failed relationship and has fallen out of love with Merlin, it's a long bumpy road ahead when he realizes he never got over Merlin and has to right the wrongs he'd done.**

**Disclaimer: All Merlin characters are owned by Shine and BBC**

**Chapter-5**

Word had gotten around about the divorce proceedings in Merlin's office and everyone he knew threw him pitying glances which Merlin hated more than anything else in the world. He did not want their pity or sympathy; it wasn't like he had lost a limb in an accident or some such thing. People got divorced every day, why should his predicament be any different to these people. The eyes of all his associates on his back made Merlin feel an unpleasant rolling in his stomach and he entered his cubicle and sat down opening up his laptop choosing to stay behind it and hide for a while until everyone else was busy enough to not pay attention to him.

His plans were thwarted however when his publisher wanted to meet him and he called her that because he was kind as Morgause was a cut throat bitch and the click of her five inch stilettos made every employee in the vicinity cower and hide in fear, she was like Miranda Preisley in Devil Wears Prada, and if anyone was even a day short of their schedule for submitting their scripts she gave them hell.

Merlin knocked and heard the rudely uttered 'Come in' before he opened the door and entered his publisher's office.

"You wanted to see me?" asked Merlin not beating around the bush.

Morgause looked up from the magazine she was reading and raised a single eyebrow, "Yes I did, I hear you have some family troubles Merlin."

Merlin sighed before saying "If you're worried its going to affect my job, it's not..."

Morgause had a pinched expression on her face and when she spoke her tone was cold and punishing "Yet you've already failed to submit the script on time, your deadline was last Tuesday."

Merlin smiled winningly which never ceased to make Morgause frown harder at him, "I'm an artist, not a robot to do everything assigned on time. But I will have it ready before next week."

Morgause threw the magazine down on her great oak desk before she stood up and said in a dangerous tone "Next week?"

Merlin kept smiling like an idiot hoping to gods above that she'd give him some time as he barely had time juggling between taking care of Alexis and doing the drawings for the comic.

Morgause narrowed her eyes and proclaimed "I want the script by Thursday Merlin, I'm not this lenient to anyone else and it's only because Morgana seems to like you that I'm not throwing you out now."

Merlin frowned and asked "Is that why you hired me in the first place? Because of Morgana's recommendation?"

Morgause who had sat back down sighed in an uncharacteristic display of resignation before saying "No Merlin, you know that I don't take recommendations into account no matter if they were from Morgana."

"Good to know."

Merlin turned about to go when Morgause said "And Merlin, I have this friend of mine single and gay and he's looking for someone, name is Cenred King."

Merlin looked back shocked and wondering if the great and fearsome Morgause Ivan was playing matchmaker of all things but Morgause wasn't even looking at him.

Merlin stuttered, "I'm..uh...I'm not really upto relationships at the moment..."

Morgause waved her hand indicating that Merlin should leave and saying "You'll find his details on your computer."

Merlin paused for a second at the sheer nerve of the woman before he walked away, he could only take so many surprises for one day and he still had loads of work to do for the comic.

When Merlin went back home late that evening Alexis was fussy and Elena looked tired but still smiled widely when she saw him, Merlin couldn't decide if it was a relieved smile or just that Elena was happy to see him. He got his answer when Elena said "Oh Merlin, Alexis has been unusually fussy today, I don't know what's wrong with her, she won't sleep or eat."

Merlin frowned and thought _'just what he wanted to deal with today'_ and although he loved his girl more than anything else on the earth sometimes she just drived him absolutely batty. When Elena looked discomfited by his expression Merlin smiled reassuringly at her and said "I'm here now, I'll take care of it."

Elena looked unsure for a moment and asked "Are you sure you don't need any help?"

"Nope, I can handle her for now, go home Elena."

Elena then smiled and got her jacket before she left through the front door saying "Goodbye Merlin."

Merlin then removed his work clothes which sadly were a suite and completely uncomfortable to wear since it was not the high quality stuff Arthur insisted on buying all the time. After having removed his coat and shoes he hurried up and opened the door to the nursery and found Alexis staring up at the ceiling in boredom and when she saw him she smiled and lifted her arms up clenching her fists asking to be picked up.

Merlin felt his heart go out to her and berated himself for ever thinking her a burden as she was his angel and lifted her up making her giggle and blow out a spit bubble.

"And how are we today?" he asked as he took her down as she babbled something in her baby tongue.

"Elena says you've been fussy, did you miss daddy?" asked Merlin and Alexis grabbed his nose and let out a peal of laughter which made Merlin chuckled too. "Daddy's here now and he's very disappointed in you for not eating, young lady!"

He went to place Alexis in her high chair but as soon as he put her down her breath hitched and in a minute she was wailing lifting and batting her arms in the air not wanting to sit down but be held up. It was then that Merlin heard the front door open and in the background he saw Arthur's blond hair and turned away, ever since that night at the hospital he always felt unbalanced and edgy around Arthur, the light hearted bantering when Arthur was drugged up with meds made Merlin hope and he wanted to stay away from Arthur because he still remembered how Arthur had declared harshly that he did not love Merlin anymore. However, Arthur made staying away from him extremely difficult as he grew more and more concerned about Alexis and insisted on asking questions about her every damn day. Merlin felt happy but frustrated all the same, Arthur had gone from totally ignoring Alexis to asking about her daily activities though he was content with just asking.

Arthur came into the kitchen where Merlin was holding Alexis in one arm and opening the fridge with the other hoping Arthur would just go upstairs and not ask anything.

Alexis turned when she heard the sudden intrusion and Arthur saw the last of her tears falling down her chubby cheeks and Merlin's less than comfortable way of holding her and snapped "Merlin! You idiot! She's not a damn bag that you can lug around! Hold her properly or sit her down."

Merlin was in equal parts amused and agitated as he turned and ranted "Why don't you try sitting her down? She doesn't want to sit down and she hasn't eaten all day so I have to make her something but she won't let me put her down so I'm going to have to do it with her in my arms anyway, otherwise she'll wail and I'll be forced to pick her up any damn way and don't you dare call me an idiot because you're daughter just likes to get her way and doesn't want to sit!"

Arthur looked flabbergasted and raised his arms in surrender as he said "No need to get your knickers in a twist Merlin…" and then more quietly he said "Maybe she just needs you're…' he gestured at his chest and Merlin thumped his head on the fridge door.

Alexis looked between the two of them with her wide blue eyes sucking on her thumb and Arthur saw Merlin looked worse for wear and decided to help, "I'll hold her while you fix something for her."

Merlin looked grateful for a moment before he looked unsure, he knew Arthur would dump Alexis on him within a few minutes anyway and he really didn't want to be doing the cooking with Alexis in his arms and decided the best way to make Arthur take care of her for a little while longer is to challenge him and said "She'd probably wail anyway, no I'll keep her, she's far more prone to fussing with you than with me" Merlin made sure to keep his tone casual and matter of fact which he knew would only irk Arthur more.

Arthur now looked insulted and Merlin groaned knowing where this was going and pretending along, "Merlin, are you telling me I'm incapable of taking care of my own daughter?"

Merlin honestly didn't know what to say but he could have as well blurted out yes because Arthur looked incredulous for a moment before he came forward in two steps and grabbed Alexis out of Merlin's arms.

Arthur then said "I'll prove you wrong" before he took off up the stairs and Merlin watched in ill concealed amusement and wondered just how long it would take for Alexis to scream Arthur's ears out.

Merlin was finished with Alexis' dinner by the time Arthur brought her down and Merlin hid his surprise at seeing Alexis calm and sleepy in Arthur's arms as he scooped the soup into a bowl and took Alexis from Arthur. He needed to get her fed and get her to sleep after which he had to go work on his latest comic, it was times like these that made him wonder if staying with Morgause was actually beneficial, he had gotten a couple of offers from some companies and he was looking into it but right now he needed to focus on his new book.

The next day Elena called in sick and Merlin nearly burst a blood vessel wondering how he was going to work on his comic with a nine month old to look after when he suddenly an idea struck him. Quickly he got Alexis bathed, dressed and fed before placing her on the pram and took out his sketchbook and pencils, he just needed to figure out the final scene and then he could develop the graphics and get them to Morgause within tomorrow.

He found a nice spot near a tree where he lifted Alexis out and spread a blanket on the grass before placing her on it, he sat leaning against the tree and idly started to draw and as he got into it he got so absorbed in it that when he was almost done and looked up Alexis was nowhere in sight. He felt numb for a minute before panic took over and he dropped the sketches on the ground and started to frantically search for her.

He looked behind the tree, the park benches, the slides, the swings and even in a group of children who were playing catch but Alexis was nowhere to be found and he ran his mind going on overboard with fear, how had Alexis even moved out of his sight, he was a horrible parent, how could he ever be so careless as to loose his baby in a park, what if Alexis crossed some road and some car or the other had hit her, what if someone had decided to kidnap her for ransom, Merlin's mind was springing all kinds of horrible mental images at him and Merlin had ran around the entire skating rink and around the whole park and felt the swell of tears in his eyes and a desperation beyond anything he'd ever felt, in his despair he began to ask the people in the park if they'd seen Alexis and with every negligent shake of heads and every vaguely sympathizing look Merlin felt more and more frustrated and lost, he pulled on his hair looking like a mad man to anyone who saw him when he finally saw them.

Alexis' bright blue frock was what gave it away and he let out a manic laugh in relief before he ran towards the ice cream stall not even bothering to apologize to the people he knocked sideways to get there.

"Oh my God! Oh God! Alexis!" he said out of breath as he snatched his baby out of the man's arms and held on tightly as if his life depended on it.

He heard a rich baritone Irish voice of a man saying "Calm down, she's fine…she just crawled over to the road and I picked her up."

Merlin wasn't listening though too caught up in the fear of almost losing his baby for his mind to really register anything.

When he felt the guys hand on his shoulder was when Merlin snapped out of his stupor to hear the man say "It's alright, she's okay, I was going to bring her to her right away but then I couldn't resist playing with her for a while. I'm sorry I should have brought her to you sooner."

Merlin still holding on tightly to Alexis managed to say "Oh no, no, thankyou for looking after her, I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to her. And it's my fault; I should have looked after her better."

"Don't be too hard on yourself, happens with crawling babies all the time."

"What? Oh, yes, yeah, wait she crawled?" asked Merlin and the surprised expression on Merlin's face made the man quirk his lips up in a grin and Merlin noticed for the first time how huge the man was and despite the muscles and the well defined abs visible through his tight t-shirt Merlin somehow felt he could trust this man.

The hulking man who easily towered over Merlin and look twice the size as him and raging hot to boot nodded his head and said "Sure did, she's a fast one!" All the while the man's smile never left his face and Merlin felt an answering grin stretch his face as he said "Well you've just witnessed another milestone in my baby's life, the first time she crawls and she nearly gives me a heart attack."

The man laughed and Merlin felt himself relax though he didn't yet know why he was blabbering like his usual cheerful self to this man whom he had known just a few minutes ago. He realized he hadn't felt this, like himself in a long time and said "Oh where are my manners, I'm Merlin Emrys." Merlin held out his hand shifting Alexis to one arm and the man took his hand in a firm but gentle grip that spoke of his quiet confidence.

"Percival Watson, pleased to meet you Merlin."

Merlin smiled and had to curb the strange urge to talk more to the man when he heard Alexis squeal as she saw two young boys grabbing a cone ice cream and going off on their merry way, she tapped her hands on Merlin's chest letting out inane baby gibble and Merlin explained "She's a sweet tooth, she gets it from me and she goes all grabby when she sees the color of strawberry ice cream" to Percival's confused look.

Percival looked thoughtful for a minute before he said "I can get little Alexis here a strawberry cone then" with a winning smile and turned to the vendor to buy one before Merlin could voice his protest.

"No, that's really not…I mean she already has enough of that at home." But Alexis kept trashing in Merlin's arms clearly wanting the ice-cream and Merlin had to use both his hands to prevent her from escaping out of his grasp, he was never never letting her out of his arms ever again.

Percival brandished the cone in front of Alexis who giggled and clapped her hands when she saw the pink fuzzy top of the strawberry cone going to grab at it when Percival pulled it out of her reach, she concentrated and a frown appeared on her face before she made a grab for it again and took hold of the ice-cream this time. Percival made a noise in encouragement of her success and Alexis giggled more and squirmed in Merlin's arms before she pulled the ice-cream back to herself and shoved it right into the her face getting both her hands and the better part of her face covered with ice-cream.

"Alexis…" Merlin said in a drawn out manner looking fondly at her though he cringed when she grabbed a hold of his shirt right with her ice cream soiled hands.

"She's a handful" said Merlin with an exasperated look as he pulled out some tissues to wipe her hands and face.

Percival laughed again and said "Oh she's delightful!"

Merlin shot him a mock incredulous look before he said "You wouldn't say that if you saw her antiques every other day, but she's my whole world and I can't thank you enough for taking care of her, I owe you one."

Percival shook his head and said "You owe me nothing, honestly it was my pleasure, I never get to be around kids much but I love them."

"Oh, well maybe you could visit Alexis sometime, I'm sure she'll be thrilled, not if you don't want to of course…" and Merlin shut up wondering when he'd turned into Gwen.

"If you wouldn't mind, she's really grown on me though it's strange I've only know her for a few minutes."

"Alexis has a way of charming everyone and having them wrapped around her little finger, her grand- father is a formidable man and she made him coo at her the day she was born, I almost passed out another time from the shock of it."

Percival smiled and looked at Alexis with a fond look of affection in his eyes and Merlin asked "Do you come to the park often?"

"Once or twice a week to do a few laps"

"Well, you could call or text me when you're around and if we're free I'll bring Alexis here, she loves the park and I'm just about to finish a major project for work so I'll have plenty of time on my hands."

Percival nodded shyly and Merlin wondered how such a hunk could look so bashful and handed over his phone to Percival as Percival did the same. After exchanging their numbers they parted ways and Merlin smiled all the way back home chastising Alexis once or twice when his mind replayed the events of the day again, he didn't realize he'd forgotten the sketch back at the park until he was inside his house and opened up his computer, he groaned then and thunked his head on the table hard.

As Merlin lamented for a whole hour about having to redo everything from scrap he got a call and frowned in confusion when he saw Percy's name flashing on his screen before he accepted, "Hey Percival, what's up?" he asked not letting too much of his frustration tinge his voice.

Percival replied "I am hoping I can put that misery out of your voice, I found you're drawing under the tree and did the math, why did you never tell me you were Emerson Cloud?"

Merlin at first wanted to jump for joy and when he read the faint amazement in Percival's voice he smiled and answered "Well it's not something I shout out to everyone I see, it's the purpose of the alias you know, so you like comics?"

"Yeah!" Percival said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "And I love Riley Hunt! I can't believe I've met the author of my favorite comics and not realized it!"

Merlin chuckled and said "That's a surprise, I never get readers of your age, most of my fans are teenagers."

Percival gave a disbelieving laugh which made Merlin shiver in appreciation and said "Merlin, you really don't bother checking your fan site do you? Besides I know for a fact that you have many fans."

"Mhmm, how's that?"

"Well you work for Morgause and being her main adversary I ought to know about her star writers."

Merlin did a quick mental check before he gasped aloud, "Oh my, Watson as in Watson Publishing, oh my God, you're Percival Watson of Watson publishers?"

Merlin heard another chuckle from the man on the other end before Percival said "Yep…" and after some hesitation he said "Hope this doesn't make you want to not be friendly with me."

Merlin shook his head vigorously then remembered that Percival couldn't see him and said "No,no, are you kidding?" Merlin who was pacing in excitement did not see Arthur coming his way and bumped straight into him making Arthur swear and Merlin squeak "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" to Arthur as he covered the phone with another hand and before Arthur could say anything more to ruin his good mood he walked away saying "I can't believe I met the owner of one of the best publishing company in town and not recognized him!"

Arthur frowned hearing the almost childish exuberance Merlin exhibited, he had not seen Merlin be his usual bubbly self in…quite a long time and this sudden change or reversion made Arthur curious but Arthur knew that Merlin was in a danger to himself and everyone in the vicinity of his flailing spidery arms when he was like this and turned and went the other way, his curiosity forgotten when he got another call from Uther telling him how he was expecting more and why couldn't Arthur close the Mercia deal already.

**So, and so it starts, what do you think of this chapter?**

**And whom should I pair Arthur with if not with Sophia? Mithian? Vivian? And it has to be a woman!**

**Thankyou so very much for the reviews, I hope you all love this chapter as well.**


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